Messages

Thanks, Herman. I'll start by looking at the shaft. I am concerned that I might screw up the wheel/shaft alignment. Bill

My T-7 gets light use. Is the annual maintenance really important and anything I should take care about in doing so? Also, how often and what tool is good to remove product from the leather honing wheel?

Thanks for your helpful comment, Jeff. Your responsiveness is charming. Compared with professional sign carvers and such, I am trying to keep my shapes and sharpness well above that of their shop standard (which in one case dictates quick and dirty dry grinding, belt sander, and honing with a buffer). Still, I'm mulling over getting a decent 1800 rpm lathe to do speed up this type of daunting reshaping. Hand carving tools just do not even approach what I have been trained to use as an optimal edge angle. Once knocking off the bulk, I'd use the T-7, then hand finish, then hone with the T=7, then final honing on a strop. I would continue to do 95% of my edge maintenance with the T-7 and my hand. I know this is an awful thought for those following water-cooled sharpening systems, but time allocation realities might sway me. Bill Solberg

After truing the new wheel and checking squareness, I took up the SE-76 for a tryout on a 22 mm firmer chisel (Span Sage). I have some general questions :

(1) early on, I observed blackened metallic marks streaking the middle one third of the wheel. This does not seem to disappear with rough grading of the wheel. This is normal?

(2) I decided to reshape this chisel from about 30 to 20 degrees, as I'm using it for hand woodcarving. This literally took several hours, mostly owing to the degree of metal that needed to be removed. Aside from re-grading the wheel periodically, are there any other tactics that can be used to speed up the reshaping using the T-7? I think I will reshape with much deliberation otherwise.

(3) While not part of the procedure, would squaring the edge of the chisel first help in any way?

Thanks, Bill.

My mistake, Gipper. It is six gradations. While my 2011 Manual 9.7 suggests truing at 0.25 mm, the manual makes no mention (that I can see) that 0.25 mm movement of the vertical support equals the distance between integers. Probably irrelevant as I can see that it is easy to eyeball it. thanks, Bill.

Tormek suggests truing in increments of 0.25 mm. I see 8 gradations on the nut. Does anyone know how much dimension is affected by going from one integer to another? It is my impression that most of you are eye-balling your depth of cut by observing the number of gradations you move to. Bill in L.A.